1. Field of the-Invention
The invention relates to a bed for domestic animals, and particularly to beds for dogs and cats.
2. Description of the Related Art
The most pertinent prior art of which this inventor is aware are pet beds distributed by the Flexi-Mat Corporation. In those animal beds, available for example in the CUDDLER and KITTY KUP series, a basic foam rubber structure is covered with different fabrics, such as denim, corded or fleece-imitation fabrics.
The basic structure of the Flexi-Mat beds and that of other prior art beds is formed of a flat foam bottom onto which a sidewall is glued. As far as understood, the oval bottom is cut out from a sheet of foam and then the side wall, which is also cut from the foam, is glued to the bottom, approximately at a 90.degree. angle.
The afore-described prior art beds are formed of open-pore foam rubber and are thus not impermeable to fluids. In fact, they have been found to soak up and retain body fluids which the animals naturally excrete. In other words, the bed structure must be washed repeatedly or simply disposed of. Repeated washing, of course, leads to increased stress on the connecting seams. Besides being rather labor intensive to produce--the parts must be cut and then glued together--the prior art beds have been found to relatively easily come apart at the connecting seams.
A similarly shaped animal bed is known from U.S. Pat. No. Des. 221,558 to Zimmerman. That disclosure is silent with regard to materials, method of manufacture and rigidity of the pet bed.
Also of interest in the context of the instant application is U.S. Pat. No. 3,066,646 to Bramley. A two-part structure is disclosed, namely a foamed plastic body covered with a water-proof material envelope. As described in the patent, the method of manufacture is quite complicated and labor-intensive.
Finally with respect to prior art teachings, the molded foam cushion disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,161,436 to Hood is of interest in this context. The cushion is manufactured in many process steps and has a very complicated structure.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a bed for domestic animals, which overcomes the hereinafore-mentioned disadvantages of the heretofore-known devices of this general type and which is impermeable to fluids, which is easy to manufacture and which does not have any connecting seems which are prone to disintegrating. As a final point, the prior art animal beds cannot be easily stacked in storage or on the shelves, since the walls are formed on the bottom at a 90.degree. angle.